Milk tart (melktert) is a traditional South African dessert combining a simple pastry crust with a creamy filling, dusted with cinnamon. It's a little like a custard tart but lighter. It's easy to make, comforting and great for entertaining being made ahead.

slice of South African milk tart (melktert) in front with rest of tart on plate behind.

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There is something about a pie or tart of some kind that feels kind of special. Maybe it's the presence it has on the table. The way it makes you wonder how big a slice you will get, or that it feels like there's more effort involved.

From a practical point of view, they are great for entertaining as you can easily divide them into more or less pieces. Plus, many can be made ahead. This South African tart is a perfect example as it can be enjoyed chilled, warm or room temperature, so it's ideal for making ahead. Plus it uses very humble, readily available ingredients.

side view of whole milk tart (melktert) with stack of plates and forks behind.

What are the origins of milk tart?

Milk tart - "melktert" in Afrikaans - originates from the 17th century from the Cape area of South Africa. It was created by the Cape Dutch colonists in the region and is believed to have evolved from Dutch "mattentaart", a cheesecake-like dessert.

This tart uses much the same ingredients as other custard-like tarts, like Portuguese custard tarts or Chinese egg tarts. However the main difference between milk tart and custard tarts is it has a higher proportion of milk to eggs.

Instead of additional egg, this style of tart generally uses some flour and/or corn starch to thicken the filling. As a result, you tend to taste the milk a little more rather than egg and it's that bit lighter.

bowls of flour, butter, sugar, eggs and measure with milk as well as cinnamon jar and spoon of vanilla all from overhead.

Milk tart ingredients and variations

Fundamentally, this tart consists of a simple crust and a sweetened egg-milk filling. As mentioned above, you use a little corn starch and/or flour to thicken the mixture and most use some vanilla extract to add to the flavor.

As with any traditional recipe, you'll find variations. Some bake the filling to help it set, others simply pour it in a ready-baked case and then chill to help it firm up. Most use cinnamon, though not all.

The pastry can also vary a little. Most use a French-style sweet pastry, or pâte sucrée, but a few go crustless or use a cracker crust. Personally, I like the typical sweet shortcrust pastry and think it's worth the tiny bit of effort. Though you can cheat and use a ready-made crust if you are short on time.

Preparing the crust

Here I go with the classic sweet pastry crust which has a great mix of being slightly sweet, buttery and crisp. It's also really easy to mix up in a food processor.

As with many pastry bases, you are best to chill the pastry before baking. This helps to avoid the pastry shrinking too much when it bakes. Then, blind bake it first to avoid the inside puffing up too much. Simply place parchment paper inside the crust and fill with some baking beans. Then, finish the baking open so it crisps up gently inside.

You can make the pastry ahead of time and leave it at room temperature until you are ready to fill the tart. You can do this the day before or earlier the same day but I wouldn't recommend making it too far ahead so the pastry retains its crispness.

whisking egg and sugar mixture for filling.

Making the filling

For the filling, you start by warming the milk over a medium heat. If you like, you can add a cinnamon stick to help infuse it a little, but you will also add cinnamon on top so it's up to you. Separately, mix together the egg, sugar, vanilla, flour and corn starch. Then, you gradually add the warm milk to the egg mixture.

Top tip: gradually warm the egg

You don't want to warm the egg mixture too quickly or your eggs might cook, and you don't want scrambled egg in the filling! To avoid this, you temper them, which means you gradually add a little warm milk a little at a time. This brings the temperature up slowly.

Return the milk mixture to the saucepan over medium heat and wam gently so it thickens. Then pour, straining to remove any lumps, into the pie crust. Leave it to cool and set before dusting with cinnamon.

This South African milk tart is a deliciously simple combination of crisp pastry crust, smooth, creamy filling and a gentle brush of cinnamon to add to the comfort factor. It's easy to make, and great for entertaining since it's all made ahead. Perfect any excuse you can find.

small plate with slice of milk tart (melktert) and rest behind as well as stack of plates fuzzy in background.

Try these other delicious desserts, great for making ahead:

Finnish blueberry pie (mustikkapiirakka, a lovely creamy and berry-filled pie with a hint of cardamom in the buttery cookie-like crust)
Coffee panna cotta (a lovely coffee flavored twist on the classic set cream dessert)

slice of milk tart (melktert) in front of rest of tart.

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5 from 2 votes